Jo Malone. Finally.

I’ve been wanting to purchase Jo Malone Wood Sage and Sea Salt Cologne for roughly two years. Yep, that’s right. Two YEARS. I heard about it in January 2014 from FluerdeForce on YouTube and read the scent description and just knew it would be perfect. I didn’t purchase because I hadn’t actually smelled it in person or tested the chemistry on my skin. Note: if you are considering a luxury fragrance MAKE SURE you spray it on yourself and see how the perfume reacts to your skin. Just because something smells lovely on your sister/friend does not mean it will on you! My friend made that mistake many many years ago when she loved how Burberry Brit smelled on me, bought a huge bottle of it, then hated it.

Anyways, I digress. Fast forward to August 2015 and I finally get the chance to try on the fragrance. And it was everything and more of what I’d hoped for. The scent reacted with my skin to where it actually smelled better over time. BUT, I didn’t purchase, because at that time I was there for a  handbag and that was already a large purchase for me.

So now, here we are in January 2016. I have just graduated from college. I’d received a few graduation gifts but chose to put those monetary gifts towards smarter things like diapers and oh so lovely student loans. I received a letter in the mail from my aunt, and it also had a check in it for $50. In her letter, she specifically said ” I know you, now use this for something you WANT FOR YOURSELF. Make it a treat, you’ve earned it.”

Well, seeing as this fragrance has been on my wish list for over a year now, I decided it was time. So I finally, FINALLY ordered the 30ml bottle of Wood Sage and Sea Salt. If I go through this bottle and decide I completely love it, I will get the 100ml bottle, but I couldn’t justify a purchase over $100 for a fragrance right now.

At first I was going to order from Nordstrom, but decided to order off the Jo Malone website. I’m so glad I did! Like Nordstrom they offer free shipping, but Jo Malone also does free gift wrapping. And yes, I definitely did get mine gift wrapped with the gift message “Happy Graduation!” because I was that excited. I love using nice boxes for storage/cabinet organization though so it will get used too. Another thing that worked out was that I decided to Google “Jo Malone coupon codes.” This resulted in me getting a FREE 9ml sample of Peony and Blush Suede!! This is almost 1/3 of a bottle for free!!! Also, when you order from the Jo Malone website you get 2 free samples. I ordered Lime Basil and Mandarin perfume (a 1.5ml spray bottle, PERFECT for a purse/car) and Peony and Blush Suede Shower Oil.

I actually cant believe I’ve talked this much about a perfume I don’t even have with me yet, but guys…I’m so excited. This is the first thing I’ve treated myself to in a long time.

-Rachel

 

 

 

 

Minimalist Spending: Fresh Financial Start

 

NOW FEATURED ON MY NEW WEBSITE/BLOG!!!!

Long story short, my husband and I have a lot of student loans racked up. And by a lot, I mean a LOT. A family member of mine gave us a book by Dave Ramsey (don’t let the name put you off if you’ve heard things, please keep reading!) called “Total Money Makeover.” I read most of it, but definitely started to get overwhelmed with things about life insurance and investments. Financially, we have these major goals CURRENTLY:

• Pay off student loans
• Own a house
• College fund for our daughter (plus future children)
• Large Emergency fund

I say currently because once we hit these goals, which will take awhile, the goals will change and that is when we will be more comfortable with other investments etc. My thoughts may change with the Dave Ramsey approach though…I’m not totally sure.

Through what I did read in the book I got excited to start a budget and so did my husband…sort of. Unfortunately he wasn’t ever as on the minimalism bandwagon as I was. He loves his toys and clothes and expensive microbrews. Okay, I love microbrews too so I can’t completely put that blame on him;) Since I was pregnant and not drinking it was a lot easier to point the finger though. Anyways, while we were living apart (I was finishing school, he was working full time) we fell off that budget wagon and just wasn’t tracking anything.

Fast forward, and for Christmas my parents bought us the “Financial Peace University” by Dave Ramsey. It is a comprehensive course to which you become a lifetime member. It’s a 9 or 10 week course, but you can attend it as many times as you like once you have purchased the materials once. Since the materials were purchased for us, it was free for us. This is definitely NOT something I would’ve bought for myself because I didn’t think we needed it. I would probably be wrong with that mindset though.

The class is pretty comprehensive. Not every financial adviser will agree with him completely, but if you are not sure where to start, his approach is great simply because he tells you almost exactly what to do. There are his baby steps (Which also are in his other books) and they are talked about specifically. Also, if you have a spouse who needs some coaxing, this class may be the way. My husband got excited and fired up about saving and realized how many wonderful things he already owns. It’s turning him into a minimalist slowly but surely! 😀

The class gives hope and though we know it won’t be easy, it’s our new beginning. I will try to update a couple of times with my experience throughout the course.

-Rachel

 

Minimalist Closet by Accident (Happy 2016! Part 2)

I started this blog because I wanted to cut down my belongings, own things I love, and stop spending money on stupid stuff. Particularly I wanted to own a minimal amount of clothing.

Well, by accident, I am almost completely “there.” While I was pregnant I bought almost no maternity clothes thanks to a wonderfully kind stranger/sister. I am an alumna of a sorority and a fellow alumna was kind enough to send me ALL of her maternity clothes because she and her husband were done having. I only had to buy myself total: 2 short sleeve shirts, 2 shorts, 2 leggings, and 2 long sleeve shirts. This is throughout the entire 40 weeks! Anyways, the pregnancy got me in the mindset of not wanting to spend money on clothes I wouldn’t wear beyond pregnancy, which kept me with a limited wardrobe that I made work.

Fast forward, and I’ve had my daughter. I’m in a stage where I am discovering all of my old clothes and realizing that frankly I didn’t like a lot that was there, and this was AFTER I’d already done a lot of donating last year before I was pregnant. So I got donated a box worth before we moved, and I’m still continuing to do so. Now I do have some clothes in my closet that are a little small, but I have been losing weight consistently (thank you breastfeeding!) so I know they will fit soon enough that it is relevant to leave them in there.

All in all I have about 6 tank tops, 5 loose “nice” t-shirts, 4 Express Portofinos, 3 cardigans, 3 leggings, and 1 pair of jeans. I DO need to go through my underwear and workout clothes again because I think I have more in that drawer than everything I just listed! So there is still work, but not very much. As far as shoes, I am not a shoe loving girl, so this has never been too difficult of an area. I have 3 pairs of black ankle boots(one are snow boots, one are rain boots, and one are nice faux leather…the weather is all over the place haha), running shoes, and on the way are some Steve Madden faux leather flat sneakers. These are replacing a pair I got from J Crew and completely wore through while pregnant (near the end they were all that would fit!)

So, by accident, I’ve nearly gotten to where I wanted to be a year ago! Well, the mindset changed last year and actions changed over time. Yay!

Now to go through everything ELSE we brought with us.

-Rachel

 

 

 

Happy 2016! Part 1: Life Update (Baby/Graduating College/Moving)

Well, I can’t even remember the last time I posted, but that is because life officially got insane….

I delivered a beautiful baby girl on November 17th. Unfortunately she was born with complications that led to a short stay in the NICU, but she is perfectly healthy now. If you remember, I was still finishing up my final semester, and this stay in the NICU was actually not in my college-town, so it put a lot more pressure on my coursework once we got back from the hospital. Commence a few weeks of 2 hours of sleep and a LOT of computer/course time and finally I got through everything. There were many times I wanted to just give up even though the light at the end of the tunnel was right there. Somehow, thanks to some much needed help from my mother and my husband, I finished all of my papers, engineering design projects (plus their corresponding reports), and finals. In fact, I managed one of my higher GPA semesters, and was just off making Dean’s List (which is very difficult in any engineering discipline).

Unfortunately, finishing my classes did not mean it was time to relax. My husband and I then had to immediately begin packing up our lives to move over 500 miles to where his job is located. I say “begin” because with the hospital time, him working remotely, a new baby, and me finishing classes…nothing had been packed. Also to make things crazier, I only finished my coursework 12 hours before the graduation ceremony,and my family AND my in-laws were both in town. Thankfully, all of the extra family members meant a lot of extra help with moving. Almost everything was completed in 4 hours the day of graduation itself. Unfortunately this packing was basically “throw everything into boxes and tape them” and wasn’t very organized. Then we made the VERY long drive with everything we owned and a 1 month old baby. Somehow we made it!

Finally, we are sort of moved in. Actually, we are living with our in-laws while we are searching for a house. This made things nice because we didn’t have to unpack kitchen/bathroom type items, and we can slowly go through everything. HOWEVER, my family was also staying with my in-laws for the holidays, so absolutely nothing productive was happening. We couldn’t even deal with any baby-things because that’s where my parents were sleeping.

Now, things have just started to settle down. My family has flown home, and our clothes are pretty much dealt with. The nursery is 90% done, just hanging some minimal decorations and bringing in the recliner remains.

I was also dabbling with the idea of setting up an actual domain/website of my own, but decided it would not be a good decision right now. Maybe in the future this year =)

I hope that 2015 treated you well and that you have a very Happy New Year! My next post will be all about de-cluttering again due to the move and my clothing/fitness situation now that I’m 6 weeks postpartum.

-Rachel